Right Hand

Jameson Doesn’t like to Use His Right Hand.

Jameson has been seeing a physical therapist basically since he was born, and he has come a long way with his torticollis and his flat head syndrome. He can now turn his head to both sides without any issues, but he’s still a little tight when it comes to some movements. He’s a pretty tense baby at times for some reason we are unsure of. And finally, with his helmet, he’s been corrected to normal range, but we are trying to go for a zero, or as close to a “perfect head” as we can.

But, there is another problem we have to work on now though, and that’s how he doesn’t like to grab things with his right hand. You see, his right thumb is pretty much in his mouth 24/7, even though we have tried all of the pacifiers to no avail. But with that hand always busy, he prefers to use his left hand to grab and hold pretty much everything. What this equates to is that the strength in his left hand is where it needs to be, but the strength in the right one is a little behind. So what his therapist has us doing is holding his left hand away from whatever it is we are trying to get him to play with and try to get him to use the right one instead. This can be a difficult tasks at times, since like I said, he never wants to take that right thumb out of his mouth.

Now, every time we play, we focus on trying to get Jameson to engage with his right hand at first. Handing him everything and not giving it to him unless he reaches out with that right hand to grab it. I will even give him two toys at once so he will engage with both hands instead of him just passing whatever it is from his right to his left hand, so he can stick his thumb back into his mouth. Even when we feed him, and we let him self feed. I will hand him the spoon but only let him take it if he reaches out with his right hand. Everything has to be done with his right hand until he has the same strength in both hands.

This method is pretty difficult, for me at least, to force that thumb out of his mouth and try and get him to use and engage with his right hand. I know that his thumb is like his security blanket, and it makes him feel better. But I want him to have the strength and dexterity he should have when he’s older. During his PT sessions, he screams so much when mom and I are around. But the progress we have seen so far is worth the pain of those screams and cries.